When You Reach Me

By Rebecca Stead

So I went to the National Book Festival a couple of weeks ago and heard a book talk by this author. Since I've been living in a cave the last year or so, I didn't know that she'd written the Newbery winner for this year -- this book. She was fantastic. I loved her talk, so I went straight to the library and checked it out. It was well worth a read. The main character is enjoyable. I liked how well-rounded all the characters are and how I came to like them all. The plot is intriguing, too. Recommended.

(This is when I had the epiphany that we'd named 3 of 4 children after characters in A Wrinkle In Time; if you read the book, you'll see why....)

Nancy Drew and the Bungalow Mystery (Book #3)

We started reading this book about a month ago, and we finished it last night. Nancy was on a boat in a storm and a girl saved them from crashing into a rock and her name was Laura.  Laura had a mystery for Nancy.  Two weeks later, Laura came to Nancy to tell her about her strange guardians.  My favorite part of the book was when Laura gave Nancy the aquamarine ring.  I think you should read this book because it's exciting.  Lisa just gave me a whole bunch of Nancy Drew books, so get ready for a whole bunch of Nancy Drew books on the Luke Ladies Book Nook!

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

I just finished this, again, I've read it many times. It's a young adult book about Sam Westing, master of disguise and game playing, who in his will called 16 heirs to play the "Westing Game" to discover who took his life and figure out the solution, becoming the heir to his money. it's an easy read, and fun. It's fun to try and figure it out. It was made into a movie but I haven't seen it, so I don't know how much it follows the book.

The Julia Probyn Series

Ann Bridge

This is a series of books written anonymously in the 1950s by a British diplomat's wife. She'd lived all over the world and writes stories set in those places. The collection I found was three books in one (they're out of print, I found this on abebooks.com for really cheap) called Julia Involved. These three were set in Morocco, Portugal, and Switzerland, respectively.

I liked her writing, and I liked the detail about the places and the events and the politics (a little, not too much!) of the time. It's fascinating how much has changed in 50 years. They're very readable: international intrigue with a little romance thrown in.

I've heard that her other books are great too (she wrote 20-30 of them) but they're all out of print and most of the others besides this series are very pricey. So if you find any Ann Bridge in used bookstores, pick it up and send it to me! :)

The Known World

by Edward P. Jones

I just finished this last night.  I'm trying to read some of the award-winning books from the library (Pulitzers, National Book Awards, Man Bookers, etc.) and I'm keeping a list so I can create my own library more high school student friendly.  With so many of my friends having high school students, I keep hearing how so many of the "great" books are awful, and that it is difficult to find the reading list books because the library's copies are always checked out. I decided to start my reading now and buy books that are more likely to end up on these reading lists AND that I feel are appropriate to read.  That said, I just finished this one, and found it very interesting.  It won the Pulitzer in 2004, and this is the author's 2nd novel.  (His 1st, Lost in the City, was a National Book Award finalist).

The book is set in the slavery era in Virginia, but is about an aspect of slavery I was not aware of.  Apparently, there were a number of free blacks that were slave owners in the south.  Usually it was second generation freed slaves, whose parents had themselves been slaves and been freed or purchased their freedom. I did not know this happened and imagine it would cause some difficulties in the families.  Anyway, it is written in a really cool way, telling a story, but weaving in what happens in the future to the different characters.  I really enjoyed it.  It supposedly paints a fairly realistic picture of slavery, which I appreciate.  Most interesting were the interactions between the black and white slave owners, as well as the black slave owners relationships (often strained) with their parents.

I thought it was a good book.  I added it to my "buy" list.  

Baptism, by George Durrant

This book is about a 7-year-old boy named George who is getting ready to be baptized. One story was about a fire. It was a rainy day, and George and his friends would usually cook potatoes in a bonfire, but it was rainy that day and they tried to chop down trees and build a fire, but the trees were too wet, so they decided to build a bonfire in Alan's barn. The barn caught on fire because they built a fire in there. George hid behind the stove because he knew he was in trouble. Their Mom and Dad talked about what had happened, and George heard that he was too little to know right from wrong, but George knew he really was responsible and had done something wrong. He decided to repent.

I liked this book because it had fun stories.

Calvin

(This was a fun book, just memories the author had of experiences that prepared him for baptism. I recommend it, especially for boys.)

Encyclopedia Brown Sets the Pace

written by Donald J. Sobol... reviewed by Regan E. Luke

Do you like mysteries?  I do.  So I decided to read Encyclopedia Brown Sets the Pace.  It's 10 small stories in one book.  One of my favorites was "The Case of the Crowing Rooster".  It started out that on a "Thursday evening Encyclopedia was trimming the bushes in front of his house when Lisa Periwinkle raced by on her bicycle."  Encyclopedia was wondering why she was in such a hurry.  Encyclopedia went with Lisa to go to the junkyard for a meeting.  When they got there Bugswent with his partner, Bill Canfield, and Bill Canfield had an invention to make the roosters crow.  Encyclopedia figured out that the roosters crowed three times because Bill was hiding it in the darkness because when roosters see light, they crow, so that's how come it crowed.  Bill said that if they gave him $5 to make more fake rooster machines he would give them one.  But Bill was actually just stealing money.  I liked this book because I love mysteries.  I also like it because I like how you get part of the story and you can figure it out on your own or go to the back and see what the answer is.  You should read this book...in fact your whole family should read it!